Stories about criticism

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While Pakistan’s political fate is changing, the people of this nation believe there is something more important that needs to be focused on. Yes, unfortunately, that topic is Bushra Maneka’s choice of attire.
This is not the first time that women’s choice of clothing has become a hot topic of discussion. As a confused country, it seems as though we are never content with anything. When Mahira Khan was spotted in a backless dress with Ranbir Kapoor, people bashed her for wearing a revealing outfit. And here we are, a year later, and we still cannot seem to decide whether ...

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In this technology-saturated modern biosphere, women motorcycling are still not a welcome sight. In a conservative society like Pakistan, it is unfortunate that people are more vocal and contemptuous about women riding bikes than they are about the harassment they face in their commutes generally.
In a traditionalist patriarchal society where domination is believed to be a masculine realm, the general perception still is that women riding bikes and claiming public spaces or independence are against the orthodox status quo.
The ill-norms, taboos and misogynistic expectations ballooned in society are holding women back from empowering themselves. Not many women dare to ...

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I have come to realise that no matter which part of the world they are from, mothers have one thing in common: putting up with unsolicited advice and dealing with intense scrutiny and judgement for the parenting choices they make.
Hence, this Mother’s Day, I decided to write a message to all the mothers facing this issue out there. These mothers are trying hard to do the best they can by their children, while being constantly questioned and being made to feel they have got it all wrong.
The constant unsolicited remarks a mother receives are not limited to family, friends ...

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A few days ago, I had the “privilege” to see a video sent to me by one of my friends who happens to be a diehard Imran Khan fan. He forwarded me the video on WhatsApp while stating that it was one of the most “sincere” videos he had seen in recent times, as it indulged in what he called “constructive” criticism of Imran.
Intrigued, I started to watch the video which began by focusing on garbage cans for a few seconds. After the obviously bewildering and frankly senseless focus on garbage cans, the camera lens moved to show our ...

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“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
These words by John F Kennedy shed light on the purpose behind the 16 days of Activism that we all advocate for today. We all stand united as one, across the globe, reaching out to protect women against the prevalent threat of violence.
When we say violence, however, most of us are usually focusing on physical and sexual violence, featuring stories of battered and broken victims. What goes unstated and somewhat neglected is the trauma of emotional abuse that women are also widely subjected to in today’s world.
“Do you really ...

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Last Monday, a young writer by the name of Ahsan Mehmood wrote a hypothetical letter from Adnan Sami Khan’s (ASK) deceased father to his son for a newsblog called The Weekly Pakistan. The letter was written in response to a tweet from Adnan in which he congratulated the Indian armed forces and PM Modi on a “successful surgical strike against terror”.
Big Congratulations to @PMOIndia & our brave Armed forces for a brilliant, successful & mature strategic strike against #terrorism ! #Salute
— Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) September 29, 2016
The letter essentially consisted of the father, a decorated PAF officer, talking about ...

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We live in a society that prides itself on handing out advice, suggestions and criticism left, right and centre. Most of us are experts on politics, food, relationships and everything under the sun; or like a dear friend of mine quite aptly calls it ‘muft-mashwara.com’ (free-advice.com).
Then, why would motherhood be any different?
The fact is that a girl is conditioned to expect this barrage of advice/criticism from the moment she throws up for the first time (or as they insist on showing in Bollywood movies to indicate that she is ‘with child’)!
So, this poor dear who has been listening to things like “eat almonds ...

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It is evident that, in today’s day and age, women become very sensitive when it comes to discussing matters of ‘age’. Some become defensive, while others become emotionally distraught.
Yesterday, a friend of mine shared a video with me on Facebook, and what a surprising video that turned out to be! In the clip, Meera is seen clarifying speculations about her age. She says,
“My age has always been a very complicated matter and ‘Googles’ also portrays my age incorrectly, even my date of birth. I was born on May 12 but ‘Googles’ shows otherwise. But for now all I ...

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Sometime ago, I came across a news article on Facebook about a woman who had killed herself because she didn’t like the colour of her hair. Apparently, she made several appointments with her hairdresser but after being repeatedly disappointed with the results, she gave up and killed herself.
This shocked me at first but I soon realised that that this wasn’t really anything new. Although perhaps, not as mentally disturbed as that woman, I have personally seen a number of girls around me suffering from similar problems. The way they look affects their entire attitude towards life and their hair, skin, clothes, ...

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For a good movie, subject matters a lot. Bewakoofiyaan might look like a usual love story at first glance but it’s actually a very well-penned and well-conceived movie. This does not mean that the movie has nothing to do with romance; the plot, in fact, is based on romance but it also talks about the other things associated with romance in today’s ‘practical’ world.
The story revolves around Mohit Chadhdha (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Mayera Sehgal (Sonam Kapoor), new-age practical and career-oriented sweethearts. Both try to build their lives around career stability, well-stocked bank accounts and better market positions.
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